Amit Shah rolls up sleeves for Chandigarh municipal corporation poll

Sounding the Chandigarh municipal poll bugle, Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah on Sunday made an appeal to people to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi 15 years, from panchayat to Parliament, to help him herald a change in the country.

BJP president Amit Shah flanked by city unit chief Sanjay Tandon (left) and Lok Sabha member Kirron Kher during his meeting with booth-level party workers at Ramlila Ground in Sector 27, Chandigarh, on Sunday. (Ravi Kumar/HT Photo)

Sounding the Chandigarh municipal poll bugle, Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah on Sunday made an appeal to people to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi 15 years, from panchayat to Parliament, to help him herald a change in the country.

Shah, who was addressing booth-level party workers at the Ramlila Ground in Sector 27 ahead of MC elections scheduled on December 18, said: “In 1982, I worked as a booth president in Gujarat. Ours is a party where ordinary workers get opportunity. Is there any other party where a person from a humble background rose through the ranks to become the country’s Prime Minister?”

Claiming there is a difference between the BJP and other political outfits, Shah said his party believes in following an ideology with a definite aim. Other parties win elections by holding big rallies and putting up advertisements, he said, adding that the BJP wins elections on the basis of work done by its booth-level workers. Reminding the gathering about the BJP’s win in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Shah said it was after 30 years that people of this country voted for any party with full majority.

Lashing out at the Congress, the BJP chief said under its previous regime, the country witnesses scams worth `12-lakh crore involving land, submarine, railways, coal and whatnot.

“`12-lakh crore are worth three development budgets of this country. This was the level of those scams,” he said, adding that development was “halted” during that period.

Earlier, Chandigarh BJP chief Sanjay Tandon, too, slammed the Congress over various scams. Referring to former MP and Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal, he said “even our former railway minister had to resign because of Railgate”.

Tandon claimed what the BJP has done in the past 10 months, the Congress was not able to do in the past 10 years, while assuring the gathering that the city will get additional 29 million gallon daily (MGD) of water within six months.

Member of Parliament (MP) from Chandigarh Kirron Kher, too, listed out the party’s achievements in the city in the past two-and-a-half years.

Among others who spoke were BJP national general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal, national general secretary and party in-charge for MC elections Saroj Pandey, city mayor Arun Sood and former MP Satya Pal Jain.